ALIEN

GRAYSON FELT DISGUSTING. He woke up at three in the morning, eyes still puffy from crying. He couldn't clear his mind, he shouldn't. He deserved to suffer. He felt like a dirty cheater because now he was one. The worst part? He wasn't quite sure he regretted kissing Steve. Now, he had the worst moral dilemma. To tell Matthew or not to tell Matthew? He knew he should, everything in him was telling him to be honest, but then, there was that one cell deep within screaming at him to keep quiet, to break up with Matthew for some bullshit reason, and go running back to Steve. Of course, there was the problem with Steve's girlfriend that had been waiting upstairs while they had their makeout session. Grayson usually owned up to his mistakes when he could. This, he already knew, was going to not be one of those times.

Instead, he made one of the worst mistakes of his teenage years. He dialed his boyfriend's number at three in the morning and waited. It rang three times and Grayson half-considered hanging up. However, on the fourth ring, Matthew picked up.

"Grayson? Why are you called this late? What time is it even?" Matthew's voice, groggy from the sleep he likely just woke up from, rang through the phone.

Taking a deep breath and speaking quickly before he could get himself out of it, he said, "I love you, too."

Matthew just laughed, "That's what you called me at three in the morning to tell me?"

"Yeah," Grayson said with a sigh of relief. There was still that nagging voice in the back of his head reminding him he was lying. He knew he didn't love Matthew, yet here he was, lying through his teeth.

"Go to bed, Grayson," his boyfriend instructed with a small giggle.

"Goodnight." He was just in a daze now, he didn't even know what he was saying. God, he should have just told the truth. He knew he would regret this when he had the right amount of sleep, but it was already too late. God, he was so fucking stupid.

Matthew whispered into the phone, as if it were some great secret, "Goodnight, love you."

"Love you," and he hung up. What had he just done? Now it would hurt more if he broke Matthew's heart. Now it was only hurting him. He didn't have a right to be heartbroken right now because he already ruined things by kissing Steve, but now he had ruined things somehow even more. Telling Matthew he kissed his ex once and regretting it? Maybe forgivable. Lying about loving him? Just plain fucked up.

Grayson didn't sleep the rest of the night. The next morning, it was obvious.

"What's up with you? You look dead, like actually," Emma pointed out as they all walked side by side to their first class. They still had a few minutes, but all three of them had grabbed everything they needed so they just decided to head to class early.

"Uh," the boy struggled to think of a valid excuse other than him being too busy sobbing to sleep, "Just partied too hard, I guess?"

Emma laughed out loud, hitting him lightly on the arm, "You? Partying? Hilarious. I can see you at Steve's party now: Sitting, not talking to anyone, and drinking water."

"Leave him alone, Em," Elise scolded, but the giggle that followed her statement gave her away. "Grayson knows how to party it up, especially when Steve's around."

"Speak of the devil," Emma muttered as they began to approach his locker. They didn't stop or say anything, but as Nancy was saying something to Steve, his eyes flicked over and met Grayson's. He looked away. Grayson could barely look his own reflection in the eyes let alone Steve Harrington.

Elise was silent for a minute, observing the boy next to her. Finally, she said something, "Hey, Em, I think I left my notebook in my locker, can you run and grab it for me? I have to use the ladies room, but I don't think I'll have time for both."

"Ugh, fine," Emma groaned, "but if I'm late I'll kick your ass."

"If you keep talking you'll be late," her sister joked, gently tapping her watch. The other girl rolled her eyes and jogged off in the opposite direction. As soon as she was gone, Elise pulled Grayson around a corned by the wrist and into the girl's bathroom before anyone could notice.

"You can't be in here!" a shorter girl yelled at Grayson.

Elise sighed and rolled her eyes, "Shut the fuck up, Trixie, just wash your hands and go!"

The girl, Trixie, glared at them until she finished drying her hands and left. Once she left, Elise checked under the stalls to make sure they were completely alone.

Once they were clear, Elise began, "Okay, what the fuck happened at that party? You look like depression and a hangover had a baby."

"I kissed Steve," Grayson admitted after drawing in a deep breath and exhaling carefully.

With those three words, Elise was fuming. She was at least eight inches shorter than Grayson but she knew how to be scary when she wanted to. Right now was one of those times. She was dead silent, her lips pressed into a thin line. Grayson would be lying if he said he wasn't shaking a little. There was nothing he hated more than disappointing people and he could tell by her expression he had done exactly that.

After a moment, in a whisper, she muttered, "Now tell me why the fuck you would do that. Why would you do that, Grayson? You have a boyfriend. That loves you."

"Oh, Ellie, it gets worse. Oh man, it gets so much worse," he groaned, placing his head in his hands. Getting the words out was usually therapeutic for him, but right now all it was making him want to do was cry. "I told him I loved him."

"Steve?"

"No!" Grayson exclaimed, "The boyfriend."

Elise was somehow angrier than she was a second ago, "Grayson, I hope you know that I love you, but I'm going to slap you."

"Go ahead, I deserve it." She raised her hand and the boy braced himself for the pain. However, she sighed and brought her hand down.

"I can't, I love you too much," the girl gave up, instead she pulled the boy in for a hug. "But you really fucked this one up, Gray."

"What are you guys doing in here?" a new voice joined. Emma entered the bathroom, no notebook in her hand. "You're not making out, are you?"

"Tell her," Elise whispered in Grayson's ear and he sighed, looking at his best friend, "I can't keep lying to her and neither can you. You know she deserves to know."

Grayson sighed deeply, looking away from Emma's incredibly confused expression. "I can't."

"What's going on?" Emma's brow was furrowed, "Shouldn't we be getting to class? The bell's gonna ring any minute."

"Emma, I'm gay."

Time stopped. Emma looked from Grayson's distraught face to her sister's. After a moment, she burst out laughing. She was losing breath, but then she realized no one else was laughing with her.

Standing up straight and catching her breath, her face fell, "You're serious?"

All Grayson could do was nod. Emma swallowed deeply, opening her mouth as if she was going to say something and then shutting it again. Grayson was mentally preparing himself for anything she was about to say. However, she didn't say anything. Instead, she ran out of the bathroom. The silence after the door slammed shut was deadly. Elise hugged him again, rubbing his back softly.

"It'll be okay, it'll be okay."

emma isn't homophobic, per se, there's a reason she ran and that'll all be explained i promise and she's gonna have a lot of development in future chapters so don't hate her